sports desk4 minutes ago
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Today the first qualifier match in IPL will be between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The match will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from 7:30 pm. The toss will take place at 7:00 pm. The team that wins this match will directly reach the finals. The losing team will get a chance to play Qualifier-2 to reach the final.
KKR never lost Qualifier-1
KKR has won the IPL title twice. It has played Qualifier-1 twice and won the tournament along with the match both times. KKR will play the playoff match for the 8th time. Lost the final once, twice in the eliminator and twice in the qualifier-2 round. kKR first qualified for the playoffs in 2011 and last reached the knockout stage in 2021.
Hyderabad entered the playoffs for the 7th time
Sunrisers Hyderabad has reached the IPL playoffs for the 7th time. The team reached the playoffs for the first time in 2013, which was the team’s debut season. SRH last reached the top-4 in 2020. In their last 6 playoff appearances, SRH have reached the final twice, winning the title in 2016 and finishing runner-up in 2018. The team lost thrice in the eliminator and once in Qualifier-2 and was out of the tournament.
In the year 2018, Gujarat played Qualifier-1 in which it lost. However, she won in Qualifier-2 and also reached the finals.
KKR ahead in head to head
KKR has the upper hand in head to head. Till now there have been a total of 26 matches between the two teams, out of which KKR won 17 matches. Hyderabad won 9 matches, which means the team has won only 34.6 percent of the matches.
There has been only one match between the two teams this season. KKR won this match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata by a margin of just 4 runs. The second match of the tournament between the two was canceled due to rain.
Narine’s double performance, Varun has the most wickets
Sunil Narine and Phil Salt have performed brilliantly while opening for KKR. Both of them strengthened the team in the powerplay. Team’s star player Phil Salt will not play the match. Salt has returned to England to play a 4-match T20 series against Pakistan.
In the absence of salt the team may have to suffer losses. In his place will be Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who will play the first match of the season.
Even in the middle order, Shreyas Iyer may not have played big innings, but he has provided good support on non-strike. Among the finishers, aggressive Andre Russell has taken up the responsibility of hitting big shots in the death overs this season. Varun Chakraborty has performed brilliantly in bowling. Harshit Rana has taken 16 wickets in 11 matches. Sunil Narine has also taken 15 wickets in his name along with scoring 461 runs.
Head-Abhishek’s strike rate 200+
The opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have scored runs at a strike rate of more than 200. Both have played aggressive innings. Heinrich Klaasen has also performed brilliantly in the middle order. He has scored 381 runs in 13 matches.
In bowling, T Natarajan performed brilliantly by taking 17 wickets in 11 matches. Captain Pat Cummins supported him well by taking 15 wickets and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with 11 wickets. It is expected to be a high scoring match between the two teams.
no chance of rain
It will be hot in Ahmedabad on the day of the match. However, if the match is held in the evening, the players will get relief. The minimum temperature of the day will be 31 degrees. Also there is no possibility of rain.
pitch report
The team batting first in Ahmedabad has been successful in putting a big score on the board and winning the match. The average score of the team batting first is close to 170 runs. However, 200 runs have also been chased on this ground this season.
Since the sky is clear and there is no threat of rain, it is expected that the captain will win the toss and bat first. The fast bowlers will get good movement from the wicket, while the spinners will also get help in the later overs.
Possible playing eleven
KKR: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakravarthy.
Impact: Ramandeep Singh.
SRH: Pat Cummins (Captain)Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mayank Markande/Vijaykant Vijayakanth, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan.
Impact: Jaydev Unadkat.
